Machine for winding up chain link fencing



fi e 17, 1969 M.VERSTRA ETE MACHINE F OR WINDING UP CHAIN LINK FENCI NGFiled Sept. 19,4966

Sheet Inventor w a a 3 t u n e n v U e w c w .5 B .Q

, June 17, 1969 M. VERSTRAETE MACHINE FOR WINDING UP CHAIN LINK FENCINGFiled Sept. 19, 1966 Sheet 2 of3 Inventor S I row 01% arroo V, A! orneysUnited States Patent M US. Cl. 24255 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREA machine for winding a chain link fencing to a coreless roll. Feedingand roll supporting mechanism for crowding the chain links togetherduring the winding, operation for obtaining a condensed roll.

This invention relates to a method of and machine for winding up chainlink fencing so as to form it into rolls in which the chain links arecompressed in the longitudinal direction so as to condense the roll.

The longitudinal compression above referred to is made possible by thefact that each successive row of links in a chain link fence can bepushed closer to an adjacent row so as to reduce the length of thefencing without increasing its thickness. This compression can beeffected by hand manipulation in the process of winding up, but suchhand manipulation is diflicult and produces imperfect results.

The present invention consists in an improved method of and machine forwinding up chain link fencing which compresses the fencing by a simplemechanical action instead of by hand manipulation. This is effectedaccording to the invention by mechanically feeding the fencing onto atravelling support and to controlling the speed of the support inrelation to the speed at which the fencing is fed towards the support asto compress the fencing in the longitudinal direction and so wind it upinto a condensed roll.

It is an object of the present invention to provide method and means ofwinding up chain link fencing.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide for windingup chain link fencing by mechanically feeding the fencing onto atravelling support and so controlling the speed of the support inrelation to the speed at which the fencing is fed towards the support asto compress the fencing in longitudinal direction and so wind it up intoa condensed roll.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a machinefor winding up chain link fencing in which a feed device is arranged tofeed the fencing onto a travelling support, the latter being designed towind up the fencing and being arranged to be driven at a speed socontrolled in relation to the speed at which the fencing is fed towardsthe feed device as to compress the fencing in the longitudinal directionand so cause it to be wound up onto a condensed roll, a further objectbeing to provide a travelling support consisting of an endless band or anumber of endless bands mounted side by side and each of which having anupper run extending between front and rear rollers, each band having aconsiderable amount of slack so that it bangs down between said frontand rear rollers.

Various further and more specific purposes, features and advantages willclearly appear from the detailed description given below taken inconnection with theaccompanying drawings which form part of thisspecification and illustrate merely by way of example one embodiment ofthe device of the invention.

In the following description and the claims, parts will be identified byspecific names for convenience, but such names are intended to be asgeneric in their application to similar parts as the art will permit.Like reference characters denote like parts in the several figures ofthe drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a machine embodying the inventlon;

FIG. 2 is a section taken on the line II-II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view showing a method of feeding chain link fencing tothe machine from a supply roll;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic side view drawn to a smaller scale than FIG. 3,looking at the machine from the opposite side and showing a method offeeding chain link fencing to the winding up machine straight from amachine in which the chain link fencing is made;

FIG. 5 is a representation of a portion of chain link fencing in itsnormal expanded state;

FIG. 6 is a corresponding representation showing the result ofcompressing the chain link fencing in the longitudinal direction; and

FIG. 7 is a view corresponding to FIG. 4 but showing a modifieddischarging arrangement.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the machine comprises a number of endlessbands I mounted side by side and each having an upper run 2 extendingbetween front and rear supporting rollers 3 and 4, each band having aconsiderable amount of slack so that its upper run 2 can sag downwardsbetween the rollers 3 and 4 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The location ofroller 3 is adjustable according to the diameter required in theformally compressed roll. Each band passes over the front and rearsupporting rollers 3 and 4 and also passes round guide rollers 5 and 6which keep the return or lower run of the band out of the way of theupper run 2 however far down the upper run sags. Roll 5 is alsoadjustable to increase or decrease the slack of bands 1 according to thediameter required for the compressed roll. The bands 1 are made of veryflexible but inextensible, strong and hard-wearing material such ascanvas. It is not necessary to have more than one band 1 if the width ofthe fencing to be rolled up is not too great. For wider fencing ofdifferent widths it is advantageous to have a number of bands which maybe of different widths, mounted side by side as shown so as to leavegaps 7 (FIG. 1) at each end of the roll to accommodate guides forcontrolling the ends of the compressed roll.

As an alternative for accommodating wider fencing the machine may beconstructed in a manner such that the bands are readily interchangeable,the chosen band width being that appropriate to the fence width.

A feed roller 8 mounted above the rear supporting roller 4 is providedfor feeding the chain link fencing onto the upper runs of the bands 1.This feed roller is provided with projecting pins or teeth 9 designed toengage the links of the chain link fencing so as to drive it positivelyas the roller 8 rotates, each pin being bent in the backward directionas shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 so as to facilitate disengagement of the pinsas the fencing leaves the roller. A further guide roller 10 is arrangedin the path of the fencing as it moves from the feed roller 8 into thetrough formed by the upper runs 2 of the endless bands 1. The roller 10is provided with collars 11 for guiding the edges of the chain linkfencing. The collars 11 are adjustable along the length of the roller 10so that they can be set to suit the width and number of rolls of chainlink. Another guide roller 12 similar to the guide roller 10 and havingsimilar collars 14 is arranged to guide the chain link fencing onto thefeed roller 8.

The front supporting roller 3 and the guide rollers 5, 6, 10 and 12 areall freely rotatable, but the feed roller 8 and rear supporting roller 4are both mechanically driven, the supporting roller 4 being driven at asmaller peripheral speed than the feed roller 8 by transmitting therotation of the feed roller to the supporting roller through aspeed-reducing transmission gearing 15. The speed reduction due to thegearing 15 is chosen so as to obtain a desired degree of longitudinalcompression of the fencing without unduly crowding the links together.For normal chain link fencing a speed reduction of somewhat less than50% is suitable.

The chain link fencing may be supplied to the feed roller 8 from a roll16 supported on a roller cradle 17 having freely rotatable rollers 18which allow the roll 16 to rotate freely while supported thereon. Thefencing is passed over the guide roller 12 and onto the feed roller 8which thereupon feeds it towards the upper runs of the bands 1 wherethey sag downward between the supporting rollers 3 and 4. On leaving thefeed roller 8, the chain link fencing passes downwards in front of theguide roller 10 and between the collars 11 and is received by the upperruns 2 of the endless bands 1 which automatically wind it into a rollthereon as indicated at 180 in FIG. 3.

When the fencing leaves the feed roller 8 it is in the normal expandedcondition depicted in FIG. 5. When it is received by the endless bands 1it suflfers a reduction in speed which compresses it in the direction ofits length so that adjacent rows of links a and b (FIGS. and 6) arepushed together as shown in FIG. 6 and the material is thus condensed.At the same time, it is rolled up by the action of the sagging upperruns of the endless bands 1 which adapt themselves to the increasingdiameter of the roll 180 up to a limit which depends upon the capacityof the machine.

To finish the roll, the last layer is stretched to its normal expandedlength and tied with wire so that it forms a tight skin round the roll.The roll is lifted from the endless bands 1 and discharged from themachine by means of mechanical hoists such as that shown at 19 in FIGS.1 and 2. Alternatively the roll can be lifted by an overhead pulleyblock.

Instead of being supplied from a roll 16 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, thechain link fencing may be fed direct from a chain link fence-makingmachine. This is illustrated in FIG. 4 in which the structure shown at20 represents the chain link fence-making machine and 8 is a feedrollercorresponding to the feed-roller 8 of FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.

The machine 20 incorporates a pin roller 23 which is similar to feedroller 8 and by means of which the fencing is drawn from the machine.The machine also incorporates another roller 24 having an automaticdevice for causing the starting and stopping of pin roller 23. Toregulate the feeding action of the feed roller 8 in accordance with therate of operation of the fence-making machine 20, a tensioning roller 21is arranged so that it moves under the control of a spring or weight towhatever extent is necessary to take up slack in the length of fencingextending from the delivery end of the machine 20 to the feed roller 8.The movement of the tensioning roller 21 operates an automatic controlmechanism Which drives the feed roller 8 intermittently so that itstarts to operate whenever the amount of slack taken up reaches apredetermined maximum and to stop the feed roller when the amount ofslack falls to a predetermined minimum.

The winding up machine of FIG. 4 is generally similar to that shown inFIGS, 1 to 3 but in most cases has only one guide roller 22 instead ofthe two guide rollers 5 and 6 shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. The finished rollof chain link fencing 180 is tied with wire and lifted off thetravelling bands 1 by means of hoists 19 or an overhead pulley block inthe same way as has been described with reference to FIG. 1.

The machine can be used to wind more than one roll at once for example,by feeding separate rolls onto each band of a multiband type of machine.

FIG. 7 shows an alternative arrangement in which a tensioning roller isarranged so that it can be moved from an inoperative position ar to anoperative position arl in which it tensions the bands 1-and therebylifts the finished roll 180 to a position from which it can easily berolled onto a truck without any further lifting.

It will be apparent that the modes of application of the improvements ashereinabove described and as illustrated in the accompanying drawingshave been given solely by way of non-limitative example and that any andall detail modifications can be made therein without consequentlydeparting either from the scope or the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A machine for winding up chain link fencing comprising a feed device,a travelling support having a sagging upper run, and a reducing gearinghaving a driving member directly coupled to said feed device and adriven member directly coupled to said travelling support, said feeddevice being arranged to feed said fencing onto said support, saidsupport being adapted to wind up said fencing and being driven by saidreducing gearing at a speed so controlled in relation to the speed atwhich said fencing is fed towards said device as to compress saidfencing in the longitudinal direction by crowding said chain linkstogether and so cause it to be wound up into a condensed roll.

2. A machine according to claim 1, wherein said travelling supportcomprises at least one endless band having an upper run extendingbetween front and rear rollers, said band having a considerable amountof slack so that it hangs down between said front and rear rollers.

3. A machine according to claim 1, wherein said travelling supportcomprises a plurality of endless bands mounted side by side and eachhaving an upper run extending between front and rear rollers, each ofsaid bands having a sufficient slack so that it hangs down between saidfront and rear rollers.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,057,191 10/1936 Hufiine242--67.1 X 2,174,411 9/1939 Baase et al. 24255.l X 2,418,997 4/1947Thomas et al 24266 X 2,830,775 4/1958 Kies'el 24266 X 2,870,974 1/1959Clark 24255 2,939,645 6/1960 Rowlands et al. 24256 FOREIGN PATENTS715,469 9/1954 Great Britain. 795,427 5/ 1958 Great Britain.

WILLIAM S. BURDEN, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R.

